A Kender's Tale
by Odin1
Summary: Fizzle Greenfoot is searching for adventure. In this story, he finds it. Reviews are very welcome!


Fizzle Greenfoot skipped along the pathway leading through the dark and desolate forest, whistling with all his might. Fizzle was a kender, a rather lively kender, just into his first years of wanderlust. He was dressed in his bright yellow leggings, with a clashingly bright red vest, which covered a navy blue cotton shirt.

Fizzle's topknot swung back and forth with his skipping steps, his high-pitched whistle traveling far ahead of his joyous skips. There wasn't any real direction to his skipping, he was just out adventuring, something that kender did best.

The kender looked over his shoulder here and there, watching the shadows skip around him, feeling coldness run up and down his spine. Kender had a natural immunity to fear, so Fizzle didn't know what the strange sensation was that he felt climbing through his body.

The trees around him creaked and groaned, even though there was no wind to be felt in the air. The limbs of the trees were twisted and deformed, reaching for the black sky as if begging for a release from their pain-filled life. Fizzle walked by the twisted stumps, and smacking them with his hoopak. He looked around, as the trees seemed to yell out in pain, but then shrugged and moved further down the trail.

"Hello? Is someone there?" Fizzle asked the darkness, spinning around in circles, trying to look over both shoulders at once, but only succeeding in smacking himself in the face with his topknot.

"Kender…" came a quiet whisper from the shadowy trees.

Fizzle brought his hoopak down quickly, stabbing the pointed end into the leaf covered ground. He wiped his suddenly sweaty palms on his vest, and then clapped his hands together with a loud smacking sound. 

"The name is Fizzle Greenfoot! Pleased to meet you!" the kender said, holding out his hand, and spinning in circles, looking for anyone who would accept his friendly handshake. "How rude!" Fizzle said, quite hurt, when no one accepted his gladly offered hand.

"Kender…" came the whispering voice again, this time coming from down the trail, ahead of Fizzle. "Come to me kender…" the voice beckoned from ahead.

Fizzle picked up his hoopak quickly, and adjusted his various packs that hung around his waist. "Well, you don't have to ask me twice! These trees are not exactly the most wonderful scenery in the world." He said loudly, while stomping noisily up the muddy trail.

He didn't get far, when he spotted a small cave that was set into a rocky outcropping a few yards up the trail. There was a faint glow emanating from the cave, lighting the entrance enough for Fizzle to see the jagged stalactites that hung from the ceiling of the cavern's entry. As Fizzle got closer, he noticed two twin waterfalls, cascading down the rock walls, and falling to either side of the walkway that led into the cavern.

"Wow, those waterfalls sure are pretty. Did you make them…uh, whoever you are?" Fizzle asked, reaching out his hoopak and letting the water wash over it.

"Just enter my cavern kender, all will be answered when you get inside." the whispering voice answered.

"Well OK, if you insist!" Fizzle said, taking his hoopak out of the waterfall, and skipping into the entrance of the cavern, looking up in awe at the wicked looking stalactites that hung over his head.

The inside of the cavern was massive, it angled downwards, opening up into a huge oval shaped chamber, filled with stalactites on the high ceiling, and a few stalagmites on the floor. Their was another chamber off of the northern end of the main cavern, this cavern looked to be about half the size of the main one, and had an entrance what was worn smooth with wear. There was a strange light that filled the chamber, that seemed to come from nowhere, but lit everything.

"Hello? Is anyone home?" Fizzle yelled at the top of his lungs. "I have to say, you aren't being that good of a host, not even meeting me at the door…er…well entrance." He finished, planting his fists on his hips.

"Come below kender, then we can be properly introduced. I am in the chamber in the back of the cavern." Came the whispering voice.

"Come below…follow me here! Sheesh! How many more commands are you going to give me?" Fizzle bristled angrily, looking around him quickly. "How do I get down there anyway?" he asked more nicely, his curiosity replacing his anger.

"To your left, there are steps carved into the wall, follow them down to the bottom, and then weave through the stalagmites and make your way to the rear cavern." Answered the whispering voice, seeming to have a slight edge of humor in it.

"OK," Fizzle said, looking to his left and spotting the stairway. He went over quickly, and jumped down the first few steps, skipping down them, and peaking over the side of the steps, looking down at the ground that was well below him.

"Please stay in the center of the stairs. I don't want to have to come pick your corpse off of one of the stalagmites because you impaled yourself. And go slower, I don't want you tumbling down the steps and breaking your neck either! Please try to arrive at the bottom alive and well." Warned the whispering voice, and for the first time Fizzle realized that the voice was in his head, he wasn't hearing it through his ears.

He stood there on the steps for a moment, letting this new information soak into his brain. Then curiosity took over, and before Fizzle knew it, his forefingers where placed firmly in his ears, and he was yelling at the top of his lungs. "Talk now! Can I hear you if I am plugging my ears like this?"

The voice seemed to sigh, "yes, you can hear me just the same like that. Please just hurry and get down the stairs, we have much to discuss."

Fizzle smiled happily, and pulled his fingers out of his ears. After inspecting his fingertips, and wiping a little earwax off of them onto his pant legs, he started down the steps again. He stayed near the center of the stairs, walking down them slowly, but going quicker and quicker as he got more and more excited until he was running down the deep steps at full speed.

"Slow down!" warned the voice again.

But Fizzle paid it no heed, he ran down the steps faster and faster, wanting to reach the bottom so he could put a face to the mysterious voice. His hoopak was whistling slightly as the air rushed through it, and his bags jingled and rustled as they smacked against his legs. All of his precious treasures were smacking together in his bags, he even heard something break, but didn't slow, knowing that he could get something much better at a later time. If this voice were half as interesting as it sounded, then he would have treasures beyond belief.

With thoughts of newly acquired treasures, Fizzle reached the bottom of the stairs with a mighty leap, and then ran as fast as he could, weaving in and out of the stalagmites that were periodically placed around the cavern's large floor. Fizzle raced for the large worn passageway, leading into the smaller, yet still substantial rear cavern. The top of the passageway looked like it had been worn smooth from many years of something rubbing against it.

"Yes, kender. A little more, and we shall finally be properly introduced." Came the voice into Fizzle's head.

Fizzle skipped the last few yards into the second chamber, trying to look every direction at once. But what drew Fizzle's attention, wasn't the large pile of gold and gems that laid on the left side of the chamber, it wasn't the skeletons that hung from shackles on opposite side, but the huge green dragon that was laying in the rear of the chamber, watching him with glowing eyes.

"Hello kender, glad to finally meet you! You can call me Hephius," the massive green dragon said, finally speaking to Fizzle normally, his long tongue slithering out of his mouth, sliding over shiny, razor-sharp teeth.

Fizzle stared at the dragon in open-eyed wonder. He had never seen a dragon in his whole life. His great-grandfather, or was it is half cousin? Anyway, whoever it was had told him that dragon's were just fairytales, and that they didn't really exist. But now he was seeing a real live dragon, right in front of him! The stories he could tell now! He shook his head to clear those thoughts, and then smacked himself on the hand for being so impolite.

"The name's Greenfoot, Fizzle Greenfoot! It is nice to finally meet you!" Fizzle smiled in what he hoped was his most polite smile, and walked towards the dragon with his hand outstretched in front of him, expecting a hearty handshake from such a powerful dragon. "So…what was so important that you had to pull me from my very exciting adventure?" he asked, eyeing the skeletons to his right.

"I don't really have anything to talk about. I was just hungry." The dragon said, his vicious mouth turning up into smile.

"Oh…well…that doesn't sound too fun." Fizzle said, his hand finally dropping to his side, after he finally realized that the dragon wasn't going to return his handshake.

"It sounds fun kender, very fun." Hephius smiled, his sharp teeth gleaming in the chamber's artificial light.

Fizzle gulped, feeling a lump slide down his throat.

** 

Fizzle looked to his right. His hands were securely placed in some crude shackles, which were rusty and hurt his wrists badly. He was hanging from a rough rock wall, over a heaping pile of rags and bones. The skeletons were of all shapes and sizes. Fizzle noticed some human skeletons, and bones that looked like elves, for they were long like the human's, but skinnier and more delicate looking. He saw dwarven bones, and what seemed to be kender bones as well, that bothered Fizzle more than a little.

The huge green dragon was sleeping across the chamber, apparently he wanted to savor Fizzle, and let the fear get more intense. Hephius easily stretched eighty feet across the huge chamber. This cavern was not as large as the previous one, but the dragon still had plenty of room to stretch out. Near the ceiling was a small hole that let a thin stream of sunlight filter down through the dusty interior. Hephius had extinguished all magical light, and that thin stream of sunlight was all that Fizzle had to see with.

The light shined right onto Hephius, making his green scales sparkle like hundreds of shiny emeralds. The dragon's tail was curled in front of him, and his massive jaws rested on the tip of his spade-shaped tail. 

As Fizzle examined Hephius, something seemed out of place with the creature. The kender looked over the dragon's massive body, noting his muscled hind legs, his powerful body moving up and down with each intake of breath, and the powerful wings that laid across his back…wait, that was it! The wings! Hephius's wings were severely undersized compared to his massive body. In fact, Fizzle would bet that the dragon couldn't even fly.

"Well isn't that interesting!" Fizzle whispered to himself.

"Uh huh!" came a tiny voice to his side.

Fizzle looked under his armpit, to see the voice that had just spoken. Hanging next to him, clothed in dirty rags and covered in dirt, was a gully dwarf. Now Fizzle knew what the stench was that he smelled, he thought that it had been coming from the corpses below him, but now that he put his nose to it, it was definitely the gully dwarf. 

"Well, hullo there! The name's Fizzle Greenfoot! Pleased to meet you! I would shake your hand, but as you can see, I am a little tied up at the moment." Fizzle smiled, and laughed slightly at his little joke. "What is your name?"

"Glupp, my name Glupp," the gully dwarf whispered, carefully trying desperately to get his greasy hair from hanging in his face.

"Well Glupp, how long have you been here? I mean in the dragon's cavern?" Fizzle whispered, eying the still slumbering dragon from the corner of his eye.

"Two days, no more than two!" Glupp said quietly, trying desperately to hold two grubby fingers up from where they hung out over the shackles on his wrists.

Fizzle eyed the gully dwarf from his perch; he was willing to bet his topknot that Glupp had been there for much longer than two days. The gully dwarves clothes were hanging off its body, his body seemed skinnier than that of a normal gully dwarf, even the smell coming off of him was worse than usual.

"Why are you here Glupp? I must say, I don't think our host is the best on Krynn." Fizzle whispered, looking up at the shackles that bound his wrists.

"Voice call me, I come. Thought maybe food here. No food, only big scary dragon." Glupp said, sniveling slightly.

"Yeah I heard the voice too. It is the dragon's voice that I am sure of. I noticed something when I was watching him a moment ago. Look at his wings; they seem a little too small for his body. I don't think that Hephius can fly. And when I came in the main cavern back there, it is much too small for a dragon to get out of, I think that he is stuck in here, and his wings are so small cause he hasn't flown in a long time! He probably lures travelers into his cave, and then eats them all! After he tortures them unmercifully of course!" Fizzle said, eying the skulls and bones below him.

Glupp let out a strangled gulp, "he no eat me, say I'm too smelly! Just keep me here, give me water in two day," the gully dwarf said, tears running down his dirty cheeks.

"Don't cry Glupp, I will get us out of this somehow. One thing kender are good at, is getting out of tight spots. And believed me, I have been chained up plenty of times before, and I have gotten out of all of them!" Fizzle said, smacking the rusted shackle against the rough rock wall. He smacked it again and again as pieces of rusted metal clinked off of the binding, and fell to the ground.

"These shackles are in the worst state of repair that I have ever seen a set of shackles in!" Fizzle said, smacking the binding even harder against the wall. The rusted metal finally gave way and cracked, letting go of Fizzle's arm, and leaving him hanging there by one wrist. 

"Well, this isn't much better," he said, reaching down into one of his many packs, and pulling out a thin piece of metal.

"See this Glupp! This is one of my most precious possessions! I have opened so many locks with this little piece of metal. I opened a door to a library in Palthanas, I didn't get very far though. A man in brown robes came and threw me out, yelling at me the whole time! He sure was rude!" Fizzle said, while flipping the piece of metal in his hand almost reverently.

"Nice piece metal!" Glupp said, swinging closer to Fizzle to get a closer look. The gully dwarf's chains clinked across the cavern wall as he swung, causing Hephius to stir slightly in his sleep.

"Shh!" Fizzle looked at Glupp desperately.

Glupp swung back to his original position, looking severely forlorn just hanging there. "Sorry, just want see piece of metal!" he apologized.

"It's ok!" Fizzle said, already working the piece of metal into the keyhole that held the binding together.

With a clink, the binding finally gave way, and Fizzle fell to the ground roughly, falling right into the pile of skeletons, sending bones and a few skulls flying this way, and that. Hephius stirred again, blowing a thin stream of smoke out of his nostrils, and opening his mouth and letting out a low growl, but the dragon still remained asleep.

"See! I told you I would get out! Now let me help you!" Fizzle said, while working his way under where Glupp was hanging.

The gully dwarf looked down at him, his dirty feet kicking uselessly in the air. Glupp was hanging about five feet on the wall, about a foot taller than Fizzle himself, but the kender still couldn't reach the shackles to unlock them. After several moments of going through his pouches, and finding nothing that would help him, he finally decided that he would have to pull on Glupp's feet as hard as he could, and see if the bindings would break.

"Okay, I am going to grab your feet and pull. Try to make your hands as small as possible!" Fizzle told the gully dwarf.

"Hands small!" Glupp obeyed.

"One…two…three…now!" Fizzle grabbed hold of Glupp's ankles, and pulled with all his might.

Glupp's hands came sliding out of the shackles as soon as Fizzle pulled. Both him and Glupp went flying backwards, with the gully dwarf landing on top of Fizzle, knocking the air out of him.

"Get up! Get off of me!" Fizzle said, getting up quickly and rubbing his hands down the front of his clothes. "Man, you need a bath!" he pinched his nose.

"Bath? What bath?" Glupp asked, looking up at Fizzle with open admiration.

"How did I pull you out of those shackles so easily? Were your hands even in them tightly?" Fizzle asked, looking up at the binding that swung slowly on the wall.

"I scratch nose, and itch armpits! Then put hands back in," Glupp explained, sticking a finger up a nostril to demonstrate.

"Okay, that is quite enough!" Fizzle gagged slightly, "we need to get out of here before the dragon wakes up!"

Glupp nodded his shaggy head quickly, making his jaw rattle. The gully dwarf adjusted his torn rags, ran his stubby fingers through his oily hair, and moved to stand next to Fizzle. 

"Where we go?" he asked.

Fizzle looked down at the pile of bones. He pulled out an oversized helmet and put it on his head. It fit better than it should have because of his topknot, but still rode on his head slightly crooked. He picked up a small buckler, and a short sword that were both still in the hands of an elven skeleton. He did a few practice swings in the air, testing the weapons weight. He had to admit, elves made good weapons, even though they were skinny and fragile looking.

"We need to make it out of this chamber and up that walkway leading out of the main chamber. Once we get up there, we have to run out of the forest, I think it is magical or something! Anyone who comes in it, is drawn in here by the dragon." Fizzle said, running a hand over his pointy chin.

Glupp just nodded, then reached down and picked up a femur bone, holding it in front of him threateningly. He growled and swung the bone in front of him, accidentally smacking Fizzle on the shin. 

"Ow! Watch where you are swinging that!" Fizzle said, smacking the bone out of Glupp's hand, and sending it skidding across the chamber floor, sliding right in front of Hephius's nostrils.

"Let's get out of here!" Fizzle whispered, running towards the chamber's exit, heading for the stalagmites that lined the floor of the main cavern.

**

Hephius inhaled deeply, trying to block out the rumbling in his huge belly. His meager food was only a small kender, and a gully dwarf! And he would eat the pile of bones before eating the gully dwarf. He just kept the stinky thing around for a little entertainment once and awhile. He loved to torture the thing, hearing its screams of pain. But even that was getting old. He definitely wanted out of this infernal cavern complex. He had been in the chamber since he was a little wrym, trapped in here since before the cataclysm. He could hear his evil brother's calling during the dragon wars, but he could never come to help. He was sure that if he could have escaped his prison, the Dark Queen would have beaten that blasted Huma!

Now his wings were severely deformed from the lack or room to stretch them out and fly. They were too small to hold up his massive bulk, and they could definitely not lift him off the ground to fly. In his earlier years, thousands of years ago, he had been able to fly a little, but as the years went by, he grew too big, and had less and less room to stretch his wings, the time had taken its toll. Now he was just a crippled dragon, faced with an eternity of imprisonment inside this damned cavern, thanks to an ancient white robed mage.

He remembered that fateful day; he dreamt it almost every single night as he slept. He had been gliding around, feeling the winds buffet his face and mane, opening his massive mouth and letting out an ear-piercing shriek. He hadn't been a large dragon then, still small compared to most of his cousins. The greens were masters of the sky then, able to protect their territory from all the other races of dragons.

Then one day, after picking off a few stranded poachers, he was hit in the side by a powerful wave of magical energy. A mage in white robes stood below him, buffeting him with powerful spells, dropping him from the sky almost effortlessly. The mage leaned against a wooden staff, and had a long white beard; Hephius could remember those facts clearly.

The white robe must have been terribly worn out by the time Hephius hit the ground, screaming out for help. But no help had come. The wizard had trapped him, and sealed him in this godforsaken cavern, to live out his life in constant imprisonment. He had been lucky through his imprisonment to get enough unwary travelers to enter his cave, which had kept him well fed throughout the long years.

The past thoughts made his belly rumble, reminding him of his portion of kender that was chained to the wall. He knew that it would be a small morsel, but it was better than nothing. Hephius craved a large human or even a smaller elf, but the supply of them had been steadily dwindling throughout his time in the cave. They must have realized that coming into the forest meant certain death.

Hephius blinked his eyes and raised his head, shaking away the sleep. His belly rumbled in hunger, reminding him again of the food chained to the wall. He stretched out his wings and raised himself on his strong hind legs, and turned to face the kender.

The scream that came from Hephius's mouth was loud enough to shake the walls, and make dust and small amounts of rubble fall from the ceiling. The large dragon stomped over to the chains, sniffing them and flicking them with his tongue. He screeched again, bringing his tail around and smacking it into the large pile of treasure that lined the left side of the room. Gems and coins went flying through the air, smashing into the rough walls and running across the room.

"Kender! Where are you?" Hephius bellowed, searching his main chamber quickly. Not finding the kender, he quickly pulled his wings against his body and exited the chamber, squeezing through the small passageway, leading into the entrance cavern.

"I promise kender! When I find you, I will make you die a very slow and painful death!" with that, the dragon burst into the chamber.

**

Fizzle and Glupp were working their way through the stalagmites when Hephius found out they were missing. The kender was the first to hear the dragon's hate filled bellows, the noise made the hair on the back of neck stand up eerily. Glupp looked around spastically, trying desperately to find an escape from the enraged beast. If it wasn't for Fizzle having a firm hold on the gully dwarf's dirty clothing, Glupp would have ran headlong into a large stalagmite.

The pointed columns stood many feet taller than the kender and the gully dwarf. Fizzle estimated most of them to be about seven to ten feet tall. When they heard the dragon's bellow, both Fizzle and Glupp decided that it was definitely time to leave, and leave quickly.

"Where out?" Glupp asked, nervously wringing his dirty shirt into tight knots. 

Fizzle looked up to the only exit in the cavern, the same small entrance where he had come in what seemed like so long ago. There was daylight streaming in through the opening, telling the two companions that it was at least daylight outside. A promising sign, Fizzle thought to himself. He looked back at the cavern where he could hear Hephius rumbling around, preparing to burst into the main cavern.

"That is the only way out. We have to go up the steps that wind around the wall of the cavern. Once we get through the cave, we will be free. At least, that is what I hope. I am sure the dragon cant fit through the opening, if he could have, he would have been out by now, he wouldn't have to lure unwary adventurers in here." Fizzle deduced, rubbing his small hand on his chin, and adjusting the oversize helmet that was riding low over his eyes.

"OK, let's go now!" Glupp said, grabbing Fizzle's hand and pulling with all his might.

Fizzle nodded and ran with the gully dwarf, weaving in and out of the pointed stalagmites, quickly racing for the deep stairway that led to the exit. That is when Hephius burst into the chamber, his mouth open wide and smoke billowing from his nostrils. 

"You will die once I find you kender, and I promise you that it will not be quick! I will torture you until you beg me for your death!" The dragon bellowed, smashing a stalagmite with his tail, sending the splintered granite flying through the air, showering Fizzle and Glupp with the dangerously sharp particles.

"Ouch!" Glupp gulped, grabbing his arm where a small rock splinter had stabbed into his flabby bicep. The gully dwarf fell to the ground, putting a hand on his wounded arm, his eyes filling up with tears. "It hurts!" he whimpered quietly.

Fizzle pulled himself and the gully dwarf behind and rather wide stalagmite, and bent down to examine the wound. At least Glupp had the sense to keep quiet, he thought to himself. He could hear Hephius bellowing loudly, walking slowly over the pointed barriers, gingerly putting one foot in front of the other. "Good thing that he can't fly, we would be dead by now if he could." Fizzle whispered, ripping the cloth that surrounded Glupp's wound.

"This might hurt, I want you to bite down on something so you don't scream." Fizzle said, standing up quickly to look around the stalagmite to look for Hephius. The dragon was still a few hundred feet off, searching behind all of the sharp cones, smashing a few with his large tail whenever he had the urge.

"I will kill you kender!" Hephius roared.

Fizzle gulped and came back to kneel next to Glupp, who had promptly stuck his hand into his mouth to keep from screaming out. The kender smiled slightly at the sight, but the humor was quickly washed away as Hephius screamed, causing dust and small particles to fall from the ceiling.

"Here we go. I am going to pull the piece of rock out, and then tie up your arm. Keep your hand in your mouth, that is a good gully dwarf." Fizzle smiled, trying to do his best mother impression. He grabbed the thicker end of the splinter, and with a quick twist and pull, yanked it from the gully dwarf's arm. 

Glupp's eyes widened in pain, and a small sound escaped from around his hand, but that was it. Fizzle quickly took a thin strip of cloth that he tore from the gully dwarf's shirt, and tied up the wound, stopping the bleeding.

"Okay, you can take your hand out of your mouth, I got it. We need to get going! The dragon is getting really close!" Fizzle said, pulling Glupp's hand from his mouth with a suction sound. 

"Hurts!" the gully dwarf complained.

"Well I know it hurts, and it is going to hurt! You just had a piece of rock through your arm! I am not a white robe. I can't heal you with my magic!" Fizzle said, putting his hands on his hips, looking extremely bossy. Glupp just looked up at him, and nodded slowly, a small smile forming on his dirty lips.

Fizzle shook his head quickly, and then looked around the stalagmite to see the dragon dangerously close to their current position, he was only less than a dozen yards away. "We have to get going," Fizzle whispered to Glupp, and together they weaved through the cover of the pointed barriers, heading for the stairway that led upwards.

Behind them, Hephius massacred the stalagmites, beating aside many of them with a swipe of his tail. "You are running out of places to run! I will see you if you make a run for the exit, you are trapped like the vermin you are! You thief!" the dragon taunted.

Fizzle skidded to a halt, swinging Glupp around to smack into a large boulder in the process. "Did you hear that? He called me a thief!" Fizzle sputtered, his face turning red in anger. "I am no thief!" he bristled.

"Trick, he trick you!" Glupp said, pulling Fizzle's hand urgently. 

The kender looked down at the gully dwarf. He was right! The dragon was just trying to get him to reveal his position. He thanked Glupp silently, and continued to run, making it to the last protective stalagmite before the stairs, a moment later.

"Up, we go up!" Glupp whispered, trying to pull Fizzle towards the stairs.

"No!" He pulled the gully dwarf back, placing both their backs to the side of the cone. "The second we start for the stairs he will see us. There is no way we can outrun an enraged dragon!" 

"Then we trapped?" Glupp sniffled, sitting down forlornly on the rough ground.

Fizzle racked his brain for a plan that would get them out of this. He looked around his immediate area quickly, searching for anything that would help him. Nothing jumped out at him, just a few rocks, some leaves, and piles of dirt; that was it. He sighed and sat back against the stalagmite next to the gully dwarf. They wouldn't have long to wait, soon Hephius would find them, and make sure that their deaths were long and painful.

"Want to see me friends again!" Glupp whined, rubbing his dirty palms in his eyes to clear the tears.

"Me too, I was planning on taking a short stop back in Kendermore after this, you know, seeing my friends and family again. If we would have made it out of here, I would have even invited you along, have you ever been to Kendermore?" Fizzle asked the gully dwarf.

Glupp shook his head slowly, "nope, but me like to, would be fun!" a small smile formed on the small gully dwarf's lips.

Fizzle smiled and ruffled his hand through Glupp's greasy hair, and after wiping it off on his vest, sighed and leaned back against the stalagmite barrier. He could hear the dragon getting really close. The dragon's tail smashed a stalagmite a dozen feet away from them, shattering it and sending the fragments smashing into the walls with loud cracks.

"That is it!" Fizzle smiled and jumped quickly to his feet, picking up a palm-sized piece of debris, and took off his borrowed helmet and placed it inside. He took a few steps away from the protective barrier, and with a mighty heave (even for a kender) lobbed the helmet through the air, tossing it right over the back of the dragon, and landing far away from them, in the opposite direction.

Hephius's head shot up, turning quickly in the direction in which the helmet had landed, rattling across the floor with the rock inside. "Now I have you, you miserable kender!" the dragon roared, crashing through the sharp stalagmites, heedless of the damage it did to his powerful scales.

"Now is our chance!" Fizzle grabbed Glupp, and together they ran towards the stairs, and took the first few in matter of seconds. The dragon's charge through the barriers was making more than enough noise to cover their escape. Fizzle kept the thin elven sword firmly held in his hand, and in the other held onto the stumbling Glupp.

The two ran quickly, getting two-thirds of the way up the stairs before they heard Hephius bellow again. "There you are! You thought you could trick me? No matter, now I see you, and you will die for sure!" the dragon screamed in rage, and bashed his way towards Fizzle and Glupp.

They didn't look back as the dragon approached quickly, they could hear Hephius bashing aside anything that was in its way. They made it up the rest of the stairs quickly, with Fizzle pulling Glupp quickly behind him. The kender could see the daylight outside. He could see the twisted trees of the forest beckoning to him. Only a few more yards, and they would be free!

Suddenly he was yanked to a stop, and Glupp screamed behind him. He turned his head to see Hephius's huge head right behind them, and the dragon's sharp teeth with a firm hold on the gully dwarf's shirt. Glupp turned around as much as the grip would allow, and smacked the dragon between the nostrils. The pitiful hit didn't hurt the dragon though, Hephius just blew some steam from his nostrils, scolding the gully dwarf, and making him scream in pain.

"Let him go!" Fizzle yelled, a rare moment of courage billowing up inside of him. Without thinking twice, he ran towards the dragon, just as Hephius was lifting the limp gully dwarf off of the ground. With a flying leap, Fizzle brought the sharp edge of his sword down on the dragon's nose, cutting into the delicate tissue around the nostrils, and spurting blood into the air. 

Hephius opened his mouth, dropping the gully dwarf, and reared his head back, bellowing in pain and anger. But Fizzle didn't wait around. He scooped up Glupp into his arms, and threw down his sword, carrying the wounded gully dwarf out of the cavern and into the daylight. He didn't stop running then though, he kept going, watching the twisted trees as they flew by him, all the while hearing Hephius's hate-filled screams filling the air around him.

"Next time kender! Next time I will kill you!" a voice thundered into Fizzle's mind. 

"As much fun as that sounds, I don't think there will be a next time. I had fun, but not as fun as I would have liked to. So I will see you later, have fun in your prison!" Fizzle yelled over his shoulder. 

Behind him, the dragon's screams filled the sky, making the hills rumble with each ear-piercing sound.

**

Fizzle and Glupp sat around a small campfire, well away from the mysterious forests of Hephius, the mighty green dragon. The kender and gully dwarf both stared into the flames of the fire, trying to let their thoughts fall into place and sort out. It had been almost a day since they had escaped the dragon's cavern, and when the wind was right, they could still hear the dragon's bellows.

Glupp, after close examination, was not as burned as bad as Fizzle originally thought he might be. He had a few serious burns on his skin, but Fizzle dabbled in a little herbal medicine, and had made a few salves to help with the pain. Now Glupp sat quietly, respecting the kender's thoughts.

With a shake of his head, Fizzle tore his gaze from the flames of the fire, and quickly opened his bags that hung at his waist. After inspecting each of them with an expert eye, he finally decided that nothing was missing. "Phew, I didn't lose anything in that cavern…I didn't get anything though. I wish I had something to make people believe the stories that I am going to tell about this!"

"Here," Glupp said, getting up slowly and limping over to where Fizzle was leaning against a log. He held out an object for Fizzle in the palm of his hand.

The kender didn't know what it was at first, he thought it was a precious gem, cause it sparkled in the light, maybe an emerald. But at closer inspection, he realized that it was actually a dragon's scale, one of Hephius's to be exact.

"Pretty scale," Glupp smiled. "You keep!" he placed it into Fizzle's hand.

"Wow, this is perfect. Thank you Glupp! I will keep this always!" he caressed it in his hand, and then dropped it into one of his many pouches. After buckling all the straps that held them closed, Fizzle stood up and brushed off his colorful leggings.

"Well, I think it is about time for me to get heading back to Kendermore. I am looking forward to some of my mother's berry pie! It is delicious!" Fizzle smiled and rubbed his belly in remembrance. "You are coming right?" he asked Glupp.

The gully dwarf smiled, showing his crooked teeth, and then nodded his head. "Yeah, Glupp come. We stop to see Glupp's friends? Then maybe come with us to see Kendermore? Stay your place?"

Fizzle smiled and patted his new friend gently on the shoulder, "sure, we can stop and see your friends. I am sure we have room at my place for you to stay. Uh…how many friend's do you plan to invite?"

Glupp smiled and held up two grubby fingers. "Two, no more than two."


End file.
